Federer makes Basle quarters

Roger Federer booked his place in the quarter-finals of the Swiss Indoors in Basle with a three-set victory over Brazil's Thomaz Bellucci.

Federer, seeking a sixth career title at his local tournament, eased through the first set but was pipped in a tight second set tie-break and pushed to the limit in the decider before prevailing 6-3 6-7 (6/8) 7-5 in two hours and three minutes.

Third seed Richard Gasquet also moved through to the last eight with a straight-forward 6-1 6-4 win over Swiss wild card Marco Chiudinelli, wrapping up victory in 65 minutes.

Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov was the third and final man through to the quarter-finals today as he squeezed past Frenchman Julien Benneteau 7-6 (7/5) 6-7 (1/7) 7-6 (7/3) in a match lasting eight minutes short of three hours.

In first round action, second seed Juan Martin Del Potro continued his recent injury-free form with a 6-4 6-1 success against Colombia's Alejandro Falla, breaking five times in their 85-minute match.

Frenchman Benoit Paire beat Italian fifth seed Andreas Seppi 4-6 6-2 6-3, seventh seed Florian Mayer also fell 6-2 6-3 to Australia's Marinko Matosevic, and French veteran Paul-Henri Mathieu beat fellow wild card Henri Laaksonen 6-2 7-5.